If you haven’t chosen your own super fund, or you haven’t actively selected an investment option, then you need to be aware that your super money may not be invested within a traditional default growth investment option (which has at least 60% of your super money invested in growth assets such as shares and listed ... Read more
Comparing super funds
Which superannuation fund is the most suitable for you? In this section, you can learn how to compare super funds in 8 steps, where to find the latest information on fund performance and investment options, and how to discover, and compare, other important features of super funds, such as cost-effective life insurance cover, reasonable super fund fees, and other member services.
If you have not chosen your super fund, then your employer’s super contributions have been paid into a MySuper account, selected by your employer or as stipulated in an industrial award or enterprise agreement. What then happens to your employer’s super contributions (Superannuation Guarantee) when you change jobs?
In this section, you can also discover whether you have the right to choose/change your super fund, and the steps you need to take to make that happen.
Click on the links below for more information on comparing super funds:
- Types of super funds
- MySuper and your super
- Comparing super funds in 8 steps
- Choosing a super fund (fund choice)
- How do I complete a Standard Choice Form?
- Investment performance
- Super fees and charges
- Insurance and super
- Considering an SMSF
Below are some of our key Comparing super funds articles:
Set out below are all SuperGuide articles referring to Comparing super funds.
Monthly Superannuation Returns Performance Reckoner (for 5 investment options)
You can find out the median monthly investment return of the 5 main investment options available in Australian super funds for at least the past 9 calendar years (from January 2014 through to the latest monthly results). You can also check out our SuperGuide article Investment performance: Latest super returns (to ... Read more
Investment performance: Latest super returns (to January 2019)
Note: For investment returns over 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 years to 31 January 2019 for 5 main investment options offered by super funds, see Table 1 later in the article. For month-by-month performance data, going back 5 years (61 months), for the 5 main investment options offered by super funds, ... Read more
Retirement performers! Top 30 pension funds over 5 years
Note: This article lists the 30 top-performing pension (retirement) funds over 5 years to 31 December 2018. For the top-performing super funds, see SuperGuide article Super stars! Top 30 super funds over 5 years. Discovering the best-performing super funds is fascinating reading for any Australian interested in how ... Read more
Super stars! Top 30 super funds over 5 years
Note: This article lists the 30 top-performing super funds over 5 years to 31 December 2018. For the top-performing pension (retirement) funds, see SuperGuide article Super performers! Top 30 pension (retirement) funds over 5 years. The investment performance articles on the SuperGuide website are some of the most ... Read more
The easy way to find and consolidate your lost super
If you’ve ever changed jobs, address or your name then there is a chance you are one of the almost 2.3 million Australians with three or more super accounts, contributing to $17.5 billion in lost or unclaimed super across Australia. This is not just an administrative problem. If you have several super accounts it ... Read more
Asset classes: Naming the investment winners for the 2018 calendar year (and previous years)
Note: This article provides comprehensive investment performance data for the 2018 calendar year, and for the previous 7 calendar years, for 13 asset classes (including sub-categories), listing investment return overs 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and in some instances, 15 years. You can also use the SuperGuide Asset Class ... Read more
SuperGuide’s Investment Performance Reckoners: How do they work?
As a helpful resource and reference for our SuperGuide readers, we have collated 9 years of investment performance data, which SuperGuide has reported on since not long after we launched in January 2009. We have now converted that data into easy-to-use investment performance reckoners. The SuperGuide Investment ... Read more
Top 10 performing super funds over 15 years (to 31 December 2018)
Note: This article lists the top 10 performing growth super funds over 15 years to 31 December 2018, and the top 10 funds for each 10-year period going back a further 8 calendar years. (For the top 10 performing super funds over 10 years to the latest financial year, see SuperGuide article Top 10 performing super funds ... Read more
Superannuation investment: What is the difference between a balanced and growth option?
A growth investment option offered by a superannuation fund typically holds between 55% and 80% in growth assets, such as shares and property. Although the term ‘growth fund’ covers those super funds with investment options having a 55% to 80% allocation to growth assets, some super funds describe the identical ... Read more
International shares: Super fund trustees take on too much risk
Note: This article contains updated performance tables to December 2018 (and to June 2018), comparing the performance of unhedged and hedged international shares over 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 7 years, 10 years and 15 years. Long-term readers of this SuperGuide website may recall my strong support for hedging ... Read more
Super funds return 0.8% for 2018 calendar year
Note: This article provides comprehensive investment performance data for the 2018 calendar year (1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018), and for the previous 8 calendar years. You can discover the performance results for the most popular superannuation fund investment option (Growth: 61-80% in growth assets), and also ... Read more
Asset Class Performance Reckoner: Discover investment returns for 13 asset classes
If you run a self-managed super fund, the investment performance data contained in the SuperGuide Asset Class Performance Reckoner is an invaluable resource when considering and reviewing the merits of your SMSF’s investment strategy and asset allocation. If you belong to commercial super fund (such as an industry ... Read more
Top 10 performing super funds for 2018 calendar year (and previous years)
Note: This article lists the top 10 performing growth super funds for the 12 months to 31 December 2018, and also lists the top 10 growth super funds for each of the previous 8 calendar years going back to the 2010 calendar year. For the top 10 performing growth super funds over 10 years going back 9 calendar years, ... Read more
Superannuation Investment Performance Reckoner: Discover annual returns for 5 investment options
Note: The SuperGuide Investment Performance Reckoner is split into 2 Reckoners. You can discover the investment returns over 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10-year periods for the past 9 financial years, including the latest financial year. You can also discover the calendar year returns over 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10-year periods for the ... Read more